Felt like I was hiking
“Even a bad day in nature is better than a good one in the office. You know it’s true”
I was drawn to watch The North as I wanted to see the landscape of the West Highland Way and Cape Wrath Trail. The story line sounded ordinary as it is about two friends – Chris and Lluis – reconnecting after many years apart, to hike the trails together. The plot really is as uneventful as that, and it is a very slow film with minimal dialogue. That being said, I enjoyed it.
In some ways, the film is exactly what I hoped for as I felt like I was there. Director Bart Schrijver (who also wrote and co-produced the film), spent time hiking the Scottish Highlands and wanted to ensure the audience experienced the essence of the Highlands onscreen. So much so, that the six-staff crew hiked the route during production, slept in tents, and kept filming even if feeling tired, hungry or wet (or all of the above!!). It is for that reason that I felt like I was out there hiking.
Chris (Bart Harder) and Lluis (Carles Pulido) were the two friends and had slightly different hiking styles which caused some minor contention. Lluis likes to stick to the trail and get it done, with no contact with the outside world, not even the use of GPS (uses a paper map and compass). Chris wants to see the side trails, share the experience, and relish the views, yet keeps answering work calls during the journey. As a female I found it interesting to see how the male friendship worked in this film in relation to these arguments and the resolutions.
There were two particularly touching moments in the film, but in terms of dialogue, there’s no real explanation between the characters about what’s going on in their lives. I actually had a bit of a laugh to myself because it reminded me of conversations with my two adult sons over the years. I would ask what one of their mates was up to, and the response was always something like, “I don’t know,” followed by “we don’t talk about that stuff.” This glimpse into the male world of friendships and passing of the time together combined with an absence of dramatic plot points made it feel realistic.
There were of course reflective moments, but they never felt heavy – like how we think it is okay to spend 40 hours a week at work for decades, but not okay to spend months and years walking. What makes people happier? I love thru hiking (or tramping) and felt sentimental when Luis put his mattress in the water to try and find the gaping hole, and in another scene where they are getting up super early at 430am to watch a sunrise.
Near the end of the film music comes on in the final scene and it was then that I realised there had been a complete absence of music the entire time. Full credit goes to the sound crew Morten Brogaard and Birgit de Priester, who managed to capture all the sounds of a howling wind, the rain, the sounds of the river, and the puffing as you hike uphill. The auditory component of the film, along with Twan Peeters’s amazing cinematography that emphasised the vastness of the landscape made this film a real joy.
The North is currently showing as part of the Russell Hobbs British Film Festival at Palace Nova Eastend and Prospect.
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